While it is certainly possible to play online bingo 24/7 without spending a penny, your experiences and chances of actually winning anything will vary depending on what type of free bingo site you have joined up with.
If you can learn to recognise the three main types of Free Bingo, and find the right one for you, then you can’t really go wrong as you will know exactly what to expect and what the likely rewards could be. The three types are:
- Free Bingo Sites that are Sponsored by Pay Bingo Sites.
- Free Bingo Sites that have Pay Bingo Rooms.
- Pay Bingo Sites that have Free Bingo Promotions.
You will notice that all three of these categories are influenced by a pay-to-play bingo site of some description. This is because whatever bingo site you visit, even information sites like this one, they all have the ultimate aim of persuading players to ultimately deposit cash at either their site or a sponsor’s bingo site further down the line.
1: SPONSORED FREE BINGO SITES
These kind of sites offer completely free bingo games that are on the whole played just for fun. They tend to have a “fake” currency, such as points, stars or free bingo pounds. Quite often you can win real prizes in chat games, tournaments, prize draws or other prize structures such as points exchange. For example, on FreeBingo.co.uk you can win £100 in cash vouchers every Sunday simply by winning the most free games in seven one hour tournaments spread throughout the day. They also have a monthly prize draw where they generally give away a much higher value prize such as an iPod Touch, Nintendo Wii or Prada Handbag.

Other sponsored sites, such as WooHoo Bingo, you can exchange stars earned from winning the free bingo games for small prizes, but cleverly they have made these stars very difficult to win and as a result it could be several months and hundreds of hours playing bingo there before you get anywhere near being eligible to exchange for a prize.
The common factor with these kind of sites is that there is no direct cash element to their games. You are not asked for any card details and can play as long as you like, completely free. This is because their overall aim is to encourage you to visit their sponsor sites (who pay for the sites running costs) and they will do so by displaying banners around the site and game, during the intermissions and may also send regular offers and promotions via email.
These sites rely on players to occasionally visit the sponsors, but they will not punish you for not doing so, so if your intention is to simply have fun and maybe occasionally win a small prize here and there, these kind of sites are for you.
2: FREE BINGO SITES THAT HAVE PAY BINGO ROOMS
This category of free bingo site belongs to those sites who on their homepages advertise with the slogan “play for free, win real cash”. Technically this message is true, if you join up and enter a room you will find free games being played for small jackpots in real money. These amounts are generally quite small, and can range from £1 up to £50, but generally it is the very minute amounts that are being played for the majority of the time.
The downside to these kind of sites is their popularity with players trying to make a free buck. I have played in such sites before with over 400 players all competing to win a £1 full house game. The odds are therefore against you, and when you do win, the amounts are so minute that it is not even worth withdrawing. In fact, it is this strategy that makes these kind of sites a viable business model, as they are banking on the fact you will get bored of playing for such small amounts and will then try the pay-to-play rooms on that very same site.
The pay games on these sites can be really good, and you can win lots of money, but unless you are using the money you won in the free rooms, you are essentially making a deposit and risking your own money. If you are happy with this risk, or if you are prepared to spend a very long time playing for small cash jackpots against hundreds of players, then these sites, such as Cheeky Bingo and Posh Bingo could be best for you.
Be careful though to read their cashout rules, as some sites won’t let you withdraw your free winnings unless you have first made a deposit.
3: PAY BINGO SITES THAT HAVE FREE BINGO PROMOTIONS
This final category basically fits every other bingo site out there. Bingo site owners do not want to give away too much free money because it is very expensive. Sites like Cheeky Bingo can afford to run on their model because they have a huge budget behind them and large enough databases of players to make it a viable business model.
But “free bingo” is the holy grail in marketing, and every site nowadays must have some kind of free bingo element to them, even if it is just for a few hours a week. Some bingo sites will have regular free games throughout the week, but these are used as a reward for their depositing players, rather than a straight up freebie for everyone.
While this can mean you have to make a deposit first, what it does demonstrate is that the site does try to reward it’s loyal players, which is a good trait to have in a bingo site. If you can afford to make deposits, then these kind of sites could be better for you, and when the free bingo games come around you make the most of them to top up your balance or play without any risk. The best point has to be that because you are a valuable player to such sites, you should have no problem making a withdrawal.